The Texas regular session ended May 31 with some medical cannabis reform under HB 1535. Now activists are pushing Texas Governor Greg Abbot, R, to add further medical cannabis reform onto the special agenda set to begin Thursday July 8. Activists are asking him to use his unilateral authority to place measures and topics onto the special session agenda. The Texas governor is the only person who can set the special session agenda.
HB 1535
Texas did experience some small changes to their state-wide medical cannabis program under HB 1535. Both cancer and PTSD became added to the list of conditions that qualify for medical cannabis. In addition to this, the THC limit increased from 0.5 percent to one percent.
Unfortunately, HB 1535 saw a lot of changes in the Senate. The original bill had cancer, PTSD, and chronic pain to be added to the qualifying list for medical cannabis prescriptions.. Additionally, the THC limit was set to raise to five percent. However, the Senate changed these measures to remove chronic pain and set the THC limit to only one percent before sending HB 1535 to Governor Abbot. The governor signed HB 1535 into law shortly after receiving it.
RAMP
A GOP organization, the Republicans Against Marijuana Prohibition (RAMP), created a petition to collect signatures to put medical cannabis expansion on the agenda for the special session. Even though RAMP can’t put any measure directly onto the special session agenda, they hope the more signatures they get, the more pressure they can place on Governor Abbot.
The RAMP petition currently has over 4,500 signatures of the 6,400 the organization is hoping for. RAMP has partnered with Texas NORML, another cannabis legalization and decriminalization organization, to spread the petition and collect more signatures.
Special Session Agenda
The current agenda for the upcoming Texas special session will focus on election restrictions Republicans failed to enact earlier this year. Lawmakers must also finalize the state budget. The original budget plan received a veto from Governor Abbot during the regular session.
Should Governor Abbot add expanding medical cannabis further onto the special session’s agenda, we will update you with the latest.
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